The government’s decisions to help the citizens overcome the economic crisis have an impact in the short term and the authorities should think about policies that would contribute to eradicating poverty in the medium and long terms, Tatiana Puiu, vice president of the European Committee for Social Rights, stated in a public debate held at IPN. According to the expert, the authorities should identify solutions that would contribute to the sustainability of social systems in the future, when the number of older persons will rise considerably.
Tatiana Puiu noted that by raising the education level of the young generation, the state will manage to gradually eradicate poverty. Moldova’s depopulation in an accelerated way and population aging are pressing problems that need to be high on the authorities’ list of priorities.
“A poor child will leave the same poverty as inheritance to the future generations. Poverty is closely related to education. Statistics come with gloomy forecasts according to which we will soon have a larger number of older persons. According to reports, by 2040 the Republic of Moldova will have 1.7 million citizens and 30% of them will be older persons. It is not the problem of the Republic of Moldova only. The whole Europe grows older. It is a worrisome trend, but this problem persists not only in the Republic of Moldova”, stated the vice president of the European Committee for Social Rights.
According to Tatiana Puiu, the obtaining of the EU candidate status by Moldova and the opening of accession negotiations with the EU will enable Moldova to be part of EU member states’ solutions to such problems as population aging, migration and poverty.
“The European course is the best path that the Republic of Moldova can offer to its citizens. The access to European policies will help us to act together with the European Union to root out these phenomena,” noted the expert.
Tatiana Puiu welcomed the authorities’ decision to help the citizens overcome the economic crisis and inflation, but medium- and long-term solutions are needed to ensure the sustainability of the social system.
“According to data, one third of the population by 2040 will be older than 60 and we should now think how the social systems will resist when the people of working age will have to support the older persons more,” said the expert.
The public debate entitled “Poverty in Moldova: social, political and geopolitical dangers?” was the 282nd installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
